DONALD RUMSFELD “SPINS” OUT OF CONTROL – AGAIN

Donald Rumsfield, again, shows that he simply doeS not have the ability to give the press and the American people a straight answer to simple questions. He was asked today, October 26, 2006 if there were going to be consequences for the Iraqi Government and Military if they do not meet the deadlines or benchmarks established for their taking over the running of their country. Rumsfeld’s answer showed his extreme dislike for being called on the carpet. President Bush said the Iraqis have to understand that the America will not remain patient forever. In other words, there is an end to our goodwill and the inferred consequence is withdrawal of American Forces. Rumsfeld would not acknowledge the President’s statement. Instead he focused on browbeating the media for asking the question. He said over and over during his press conference today, that Iraq is a complicated situation, as if that was some kind of excuse to "Stay the Course". Reporters and the American public aren't dumb. We know Iraq is complicated. But setting benchmarks and establishing consequences is easy. Certainly Nation Building is complicated. It’s really ironic that Bush, Rumsfeld, Rove, Rice and other NeoCons didn’t understand that before the decided to overthrow the sovereign government in Iraq. If they had, they would have had a better plan of action to begin with, or perhaps they would have decided to leave Iraq in peace. No one argues that Hussein wasn’t a terrible dictator. No one thinks that Saddam's killing of his own people was an ok thing. There is simply no debate that he was evil - but that was never part of the discussion for invading Iraq. The fact that our own intelligence was so poor as to become the basis for Bush’s decision to invade Iraq is unbelievable. While taking an electronics class in 1971, my instructor, who had been a temporary employee of the CIA, said this concerning Russia’s launch of their Sputniks, “We knew exactly what they were doing and when. Our countdown [to their launch] was more accurate than theirs.” And that was during the Cold War. I don't believe that our intelligence agencies have become so lame, rather, I believe with technology and other advances, they have gotten better. My conclusion is that the Administration picked the intelligence they used to make decisions, knowing what was strong and weak, in order to convince the American people and Congress that we MUST make this war. The Administration shared their intelligence with other governments in order to make the case that these countries should join our Coalition of the Willing. In other cases, in my opinion, countries were outright coerced to join the Coalition. In the end we had a Coalition of the Duped and the Coerced. Rumsfeld further stated that we should “Sit back and enjoy the democracy that is there” [in Iraq]. Rather, I sit back and wonder how it is, that while we were fighting a real War on Terror in Afganistan, on the verge of capturing Usama Bin Laden,mBush and his cronies performed the biggest “Bait and Switch” campaign in the history of mankind, that we, the American people, let him get away with it. Shame on him. Shame on us. All of this talk about timelines, benchmarks, and the like are exactly what the Democrats were talking about when they suggested a timeline for withdrawal. There is absolutely no difference, regardless that the Administration would like us to believe that there is. Simple semantics are involved. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. If the Republicans, led by Bush, call the Democrats the Party of Cut and Run, then by their own definition, they have finally become the Official Party of Cut and Run. What’s really going on here is that Bush has finally conceded that the DEMOCRATS ARE RIGHT – WE MUST ESTABLISH BENCHMARKS that must be completed by a certain time so that American service members can be relieved of duty AND COME HOME. Using different words the Bush camp is now saying what the Democrats have been saying for a long time. That says to me that the Democrats are the Party of CUT THE CRAP.